Ordinary Guy. Super cars
The BMW Z4 is a car that polarises opinion. The previous generation wasn’t popular with sports car fans because it wasn’t really a sports car. The G29 promises much more, with a soft-top, a whole new platform and some cracking engines.
Read MoreThe BMW Z4 is here, we’ve driven it and we also know how much it costs and what’s in it. Toyota might still be keeping us waiting, but BMW has thrown the kitchen sink at us, with three models and a whopping great list of gear. To go with the price. Z4 Model Comparison BMW Australia has kicked us off with three models – the Z4 20i, Z4 30i and Z4 M40i. Based on the 5 Series’ CLAR platform (and shared with Toyota on the Supra), the Z4 is built…
Read MoreBMW’s long-awaited replacement for the iconic 8 Series of the 1990s has arrived in Australia. Launching with the top-shelf (not including the M8) M850i xDrive, there’s a choice of Coupe and Convertible. Strap yourselves in folks, it’s not cheap but you get a lot of go for your dough. What do you get? Thankfully, a hell of a lot of gear. And chassis technology. In an effort save weight, the Carbon Core from the 7 Series is along for the ride. It’s not a huge amount of carbon fibre, but…
Read MoreEver get tired of your 260kW/500Nm mid-sized SUV and want more? Like, a lot more? You probably want a 500-plus horsepower BMW X3 M Competition, then. Or, if you fancy a smaller boot and paying more for the privilege, the X4 M Competition. But you’re going to need almost $160,000. Before you read on, you can check out my review of X3 M40i to get an idea of how good the M might be. What is it? What are they? The X3 M Competition and its coupe-alike X4 sibling are…
Read MoreEverybody has heard about the Kia Stinger. Just about everybody is wrong about it, though. Why are they wrong? They reckon it came out of the blue. It didn’t. We got flashes of what Kia could do long ago in the form of stupidly-named Pro’ceed GT, a much-lauded bargain performance hatchback. Nobody bought it because people are idiots, but it was the warning shot. I’m not sure how or why the Stinger came about. I have no idea how it got signed off given the ongoing slaughter of the sedan…
Read MoreIt’s too big, blah, blah, blah. Minis are supposed to small blah blah blah. The Cooper S is nothing like the original. All of these things are true or based in truth. The new Mini is big car, monstering our Volkswagen up! and the Suzuki Swift Sport we had a few weeks ago. It’s also nothing like the original which is a great thing – having an accident in a Mini now is much safer, even when you take into account over five decades of safety innovation. Crashing a new…
Read MoreThe BMW M5 is one of those cars with a fierce fan following. Since the internet declared the E39 “seminal”, everything M does is wrong. V10? Wrong. SMG? Wrong (okay, it sort of was, but stay with me). Turbo? Wrong. Cardinal sin, in fact. M-DCT? Completely wrong. It seemed the only thing fans didn’t cry foul over was the fact it had a differential of some sort. And always had the right number of wheels. Here’s the real deal – every M5 has been demonstrably better than the one before.…
Read MoreThe 2019 BMW 3 Series is the seventh-generation of what is now a mid-sized sedan. I say mid-size but the 3 is now 76mm longer at 4.7 metres. BMW Australia has launched the new 3 Series era with two specifications packed with tons of new tech and updated engines. Codenamed G20 for the BMW numbers fans, it’s a hugely important car for the brand. While the 1 Series is cheaper, the 3 will be the smallest rear-wheel drive passenger car after the demise of the current entry-level BMW and its…
Read MoreA quick check of The Redline’s publishing engine confirms what I already knew – no Swift Sport. It’s also the least powerful car I’ve tested so far by a comfortable margin. It’s no secret that 103kW (140PS) isn’t a great deal of power. But when you’re a plucky little Suzuki Swift weighing less than 1000kg, it’s not bad at all. The Swift Sport holds a special place in my heart because it was my first video for CarsGuide. Stop sniggering. I was new. Gee it was fun, though. I loved…
Read MoreIt’s no secret that I don’t mind Woking’s machines, particularly the McLaren 720S . I’ve driven (almost) everything but the Ultimate Series cars and being stuck here in the back-end of nowhere in Australia makes that difficult. That’s okay – you can’t have everything. I first drove a 720S in July 2017 – McLaren very kindly whisked me to the Goodwood Festival of Speed via the Woking factory. Straight off the plane, into a bus, quick tour of the McLaren Technology Centre and boom, into a 720S. Left-hand drive. Pre-production.…
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